This invention relates to a rotary card holder having a rotary member in the form of a card wheel which is manually rotatable about a horizontal axis and carries a multiplicity of loosely mounted cards which contain information such as names, addresses and telephone numbers. The cards are sequentially presented to the view of a user as the card wheel is rotated, and are conveniently arranged with the information in some order, for example alphabetically.
It is known with such a rotary card holder to provide means for retaining the card wheel in the position to which it has been turned, against, for example, the force of gravity acting on the greater number of cards which are on one side of the wheel than the other. Moreover in moving the wheel from one retained position to another, there is normally heard an associated audible indication, typically a clicking sound.
An object of the invention is to provide a rotary card index in an effective and convenient manner.
According to the invention, a rotary card holder comprises a rotary member mounted by a support assembly for rotation relative thereto and having means for holding a plurality of cards, in use, manually operable means for turning the rotary member, and flexible means, between the support assembly and said manually operable means or said rotary member, the flexible means retaining the rotary member in a position to which it has been turned, in use, by said manually operable means, and/or producing an audible indication as the rotary member turns, in use.
As used herein, the term xe2x80x98cardsxe2x80x99 includes not only conventional index cards and dividers, but also equivalently notched holders, for example for business cards.
Preferably the manually operable means is a hand wheel non-rotatably fixed to the rotary member. Desirably the hand wheel is at one end of the rotary member and at its side remote from said one end there is part of said support assembly, said flexible means acting between said hand wheel and said part of the support assembly. Conveniently said part of the support assembly is an end cap which protrudes into an outer open side of the hand wheel, and advantageously has said flexible means fitted at an inner side thereof received within said hand wheel. More preferably the flexible means is a polypropylene strip and most preferably it has a free end which interferes with projections around an inner periphery of the hand wheel, when the rotary member is turned, in use, by the hand wheel, to produce said audible indication. Said free end of the strip is disposed between a pair of adjacent ones of said projections when it retains the rotary means in a position to which it has been turned, in use. More conveniently the strip is folded into a V-shape to provide two such free ends, which are disposed between respective pairs of adjacent ones of said projections to retain the rotary member in an adjusted position.
The support assembly more desirably comprises a wire frame, and in one embodiment it has respective free ends engaged with respective end caps at opposite ends of the rotary member.